


A Different Life One Shots

by Totalpanik



Category: White Collar
Genre: AU, Gen, One Shot Collection, kid!Neal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:25:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Totalpanik/pseuds/Totalpanik
Summary: A One shot collection taking place after the ending of my story "A Different Life"





	1. Merry Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, the first one shot!  
> I apologize if there's any mistakes, I didn't really have the time to edit it because I just wanted to get it out before Christmas. 
> 
> I hope you like it :)
> 
> Also since there's some differences between how we celebrate Christmas in Sweden (for example we celebrate the 24th, open the presents in the afternoon and Santa comes knocking on the door and comes inside instead of coming through the chimney at night) and in America.  
> My knowledge about the American way to celebrate Christmas is 100% based on the Christmas movies I've seen so if there's any details wrong or something it's entirely on me.
> 
> Other than that I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

Celebrating Christmas with Neal was something that both Peter and Elizabeth had been looking forward to.  
They just couldn't wait to decorate the tree with their child, to have him help Elizabeth bake gingerbread cookies and they couldn't wait to see his joy as he ripped open his presents.  
They had already given him a chocolate calendar when December came along and the kid had almost cried with joy because he had never ever had one before.  
The boy treated the calendar as if it had been made of glass, carrying it carefully as if it would break if he was too rough with it.  
He always opened it on the evening when they watched TV together and he took really small bites ,making him look like a squirrel, in order to make the little chocolate piece last as long as possible.

Normally the Burkes took care of their Christmas shopping early in order to avoid all the crowds but this year they waited with a couple of things just to have an excuse to go to the mall.  
The real reason was that they wanted Neal to meet Santa.   
Peter and Elizabeth walked hand in hand through the sea of people while Neal ran in front of them, somehow managing to not run into someone else.  
The Burkes hadn't even bothered to tell him to slow down since they knew that their kid wouldn't listen anyway and Neal used to stay within their sight.   
It was the week before Christmas, which was why the mall was filled to the brink with shoppers, everyone stressing to buy their Christmas presents.  
Neal suddenly came to a halt, causing a grumpy middle-aged man to almost bump into him.  
The middle-aged man looked like he was going to yell at him but when Peter glared daggers at him, the man huffed and continued walking.  
They reached Neal and saw that the kid had stopped because he had spotted the mall Santa, sitting on a chair with a small girl in his lap.   
” Do you want to see Santa, Neal?”  
Elizabeth asked and the child looked up at them with uncertainty written all over his face.  
”I don't know.”  
”Come on, wouldn't it be fun to talk to Santa? And I would love a picture of you two together.”  
”Okay.”  
Neal said with a sigh as if he didn't want to do it and just said okay for Elizabeth's sake.  
The adults looked at each other before shrugging, both of them writing it off as him being shy.  
They walked over to the mall Santa and got in line.

It felt like they stood there forever, surrounded by kids who were either jumping around, screaming, crying or just being loud.  
By the time it was their turn, both of the adults felt like they could collapse from exhaustion but they kept smiling.  
Neal clutched Peter's hand tightly and he had been since the start, he had probably been the only child who had been calm and quiet.  
Peter gave him a gentle push towards Santa and the boy hesitated before he slowly started to walk towards the bearded man.  
As Neal walked towards the man, Peter mouthed his name and the Santa nodded.  
”Hello there, Neal.”  
Santa greeted as the kid reached him and Neal turned around and looked at the adults, looking shocked at the fact that Santa knew his name.  
Santa then reached out for Neal and carefully lifted the six-year-old onto his lap.  
”Have you been a good boy this year?”  
Santa asked and Neal just shrugged, causing Santa to let out a hearty laugh.  
”What do you want for Christmas, Neal?”  
He asked and while the other kids mostly wished for expensive toys and a puppy, Neal just mumbled that he wanted chocolate and some art supplies.  
Then they took a picture of him with Santa which Elizabeth were given in an envelope.  
As they left, a young girl dressed as an elf also gave Neal a Christmas present.   
Peter and Elizabeth thought that the visit with Santa went great and they couldn't wait to show the picture to Mozzie, June, Jones and Diana who would all find it absolutely adorable.  
At least they thought the visit went great until they were walking towards their next destination and they heard the unmistakable sound of Neal crying, something that caused the parental instincts to take over completely.   
The other people around them didn't exist in that moment and they just rushed forward to Neal and Peter spun him around to see tears running down his cheeks.  
”What's the matter, kiddo?”  
”I don't deserve this.”  
Neal said in between sobs and looked at the gift he had received from the elf.  
”Of course you do, sweetie.”  
”No I don't. That's not the real Santa because the real Santa doesn't give me any gifts. The real Santa knows I'm not good.”  
Neal sobbed while the people passing by kept glaring at them, mad that they had not only stopped in the middle of the walkway but also had a crying child.  
The kid gave the gift to Elizabeth before he threw himself in Peter's arms.  
Peter lifted him up and tried to console him but no matter what he or Elizabeth said, the child wouldn't stop crying and they decided to do the rest of their Christmas shopping another day.   
Peter guessed that his was James' doing, based on what he knew about Neal's biological parents he was sure that it was his father who had been cruel enough to let Neal believe that it was his fault he didn't get any gifts.

The Burkes had been unable to convince Neal that he was deserving of gifts and they had feared that because of this he wouldn't have any Christmas spirit but they were wrong.  
Neal loved decorating the house and the tree, squealing with joy when Peter had lifted him up and let him put the star on top of the tree.  
He had also love making gingerbread cookies, apart from the regular shapes he was also given a knife to cut his own shapes.  
Neal showed his artistic abilities and made a big dog who was supposed to be Satchmo, all the letters of his name, a hat and a big square that he later wrote FBI on with icing, claiming that it was his badge.  
Peter had jokingly accused him of forgery and Neal had flashed his gingerbread badge before arresting Peter for slander, which basically meant that Peter was banned from the kitchen and had to sit on the couch, something that he didn't mind since there was a game on.  
His favourite part was when he made his own Christmas decorations, cutting snowflakes and drawing Christmas themed drawings to decorate the fridge.  
They also made sure to watch a lot of Christmas movies, Neal's favourite being the movie ”Elf” where Buddy made him giggle all the time, while his least favourite was ”How the Grinch stole Christmas” because the Grinch kind of scared him.

Finally the day they had been waiting for was arriving and as they went to bed the evening before Santa arrived, it was actually the adults who had a hard time falling asleep while Neal fell asleep immediately.  
They had bought a lot of gifts for Neal, and they had to stop themselves from spoiling the kid too much especially since they knew that the kid would receive more gifts from their friends.  
They woke up early and went down the stairs to start breakfast while they let Neal sleep in.  
The tree had several presents underneath it and on the coffee table was the milk and cookies they had convinced Neal to put out the night before.  
The milk was gone while there was only half of a cookie left on the plate.  
When Neal came downstairs they both looked at the boy excitedly, hoping to see some sort of reaction from him but he just walked past the tree as if it didn't even exist.   
”Did you see that Santa's been here?”  
Elizabeth asked and Neal nodded, looking completely indifferent.  
”Don't you want to see if he left something for you?”  
”It's no use, Peter.”  
The boy answered and Elizabeth slumped her shoulders, looking defeated but Peter didn't give up that easily.  
”Well can you get one of my presents then?”  
He asked and Neal sighed before trudging over to the tree and picked up the first gift he saw.  
The six-year-old froze as he read the tag and they could hear him whispering every single letter several times, as if he didn't believe that he read the name on it right.  
Neal slowly turned around and walked towards them, clutching the gift close to his chest.  
”This says Neal.”  
He told him with a confused frown before showing the tag to Peter so he could read it as well.  
”Merry Christmas Neal from Santa.”  
”Looks like you've been a good boy this year, sweetie.”  
Elizabeth said and Neal's face lit up as he realized that Santa had actually left him a gift.  
”Do you think there's more?”  
He asked and they both shrugged.  
”Why don't you go look?”  
Neal ran back to the tree and started to go through all of the gifts, letting out a shriek of joy every time he came across a gift with his name on it.  
Soon he had organized all of the gifts into four separate piles, the biggest one was his gifts, the two smaller ones was for the adults and then finally there were a small pile for Satchmo as well.  
”Look! Sachmo's been a good boy too!”  
Neal exclaimed, causing the dog to wag his tail.

They all opened their gifts together and Neal took his time to look at and appreciate every single one of his gifts.   
There was one simple gift that actually brought him to tears and that was a chocolate bar, the exact same kind that his mother used to give him and the same kind that he had shoplifted a while back.  
He had, between sobs, asked how Santa knew that his mother used to give him this chocolate and Elizabeth had been quick on her feet and said that Santa knew all of the angels, which made the boy cry even harder because he was so happy to know that his mommy was an angel.  
After all of the gifts had been opened and all of the tears had dried, Peter left the room only to return with the gift that the elf at the mall had given him.  
”You kept it!”  
Neal exclaimed before he opened it up, no longer believing that he didn't deserve it.  
Inside the box was a fluffy dog plushie.  
Neal looked over at Satchmo who were happily chewing on a bone he'd been given.  
”I already have a lot of stuffed animals but Satchmo doesn't have any.”  
Neal said before he crawled over to the dog.   
The adults shared a worried look, knowing that the reason Satchmo didn't have any stuffed animals was because he tended to rip it to shreds in the matter of seconds.  
To their surprise Satchmo accepted the toy and gave it a gentle lick instead of slaughtering it.

When the first guest arrived Elizabeth was in the kitchen cooking their dinner, Peter were assisting her and Neal were setting the table while loudly singing Jingle Bells.  
The kid immediately abandoned his task when he heard the doorbell and skipped over to open the door for June and Bugsy.  
The dogs immediately started to happily play with each other while June and Neal put the gifts she'd brought under the tree where they would sit until after dinner.  
It didn't take long before Jones and Diana arrived, Jones wearing a Santa hat and Diana wearing golden, glittery reindeer antlers.   
They even brought a couple of reindeer antlers for Neal who excitedly put them on before running around, telling everyone that he was Comet, which apparently was his favourite reindeer.   
Finally Mozzie arrived, wearing an elf hat.  
While they waited for the food to get ready, Neal showed the guests what he had gotten from Santa and it was clear to everyone in the room that the child was having the best Christmas of his entire life.  
Peter and Elizabeth looked over at the guests who were laughing at something Neal had said and then they looked at each other.  
Last Christmas it had only been Peter, Elizabeth and Satchmo which had been cozy but also kind of lonely.  
Their wonderful little child had not only made their Christmas better but he had also managed to bring all of these people together.

After dinner, when everyone's stomachs were hurting from too much food and way too much laughter, they walked over to the tree.  
They had all gotten Christmas gifts for each other, Peter had been surprised to see that even Mozzie had participated and bought gifts for the FBI agents.  
Yet again, Neal's pile was the biggest.   
June got him several expensive, top quality art supplies and an art journal where you each day of the year got a challenge to draw something.   
Jones got him a book about dinosaurs and the movie ”Disney's Dinosaurs”.  
Diana got him a hoodie where the hood looked like t-rex head and the back had scales as well as a pack of Legos.  
Mozzie gave him a couple of books, some of them regular children's books while some of them was about art, and a lock picking set, something that made Peter shake his head and mouth ”really?”.  
After opening all of the gifts they watched the Disney version of ”A Christmas carol” and ”Home Alone” together before they moved to the kitchen table to play board games.  
The FBI agents had to keep an eye on June and Mozzie when they played Monopoly, since they both were caught both cheating and teaching Neal how to cheat.   
They moved on to Trivial Pursuit where Neal sat in Peter's lap and rolled the dice for him and eventually managed to answer one of the easier questions.  
They put out the gingerbread cookies they had made and while the adults were served mulled wine, Neal was happily sipping a hot cocoa.   
Eventually Neal couldn't stay awake anymore, no matter how much he wanted the day to last forever, and he dozed off in Peter's lap.  
They paused the game so that Peter could carry the boy up the stairs and put him to bed.  
”This was one of the best days ever.”  
Neal mumbled as Peter tucked him in.  
”I'm glad to hear that.”  
He said and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.  
”And guess what, pal. New Year's is just around the corner.”  
”Can't wait.”  
Neal mumbled before he fully gave in to sleep and Peter smiled before he left the room and went down to join the rest of the adults downstairs.  
If New Year's was going to be anything like today, Peter couldn't wait either.


	2. Happy New Year!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!  
> I HOPE YOUR 2018 HAVE BEEN GREAT AND THAT 2019 WILL BE EVEN BETTER!
> 
> I have based this entirely on how I've celebrated New year's eve, including basing Neal's excitement on how my 6-year-old little brother acted last year.  
> I also chose to include a Swedish tradition (and according to Wikipedia it's also a tradition in some other European countries) to watch the British sketch ”Dinner for one”, in Swedish called ”Grevinnan och betjänten”.  
> They air it at 19:45 every New Year's Eve and it's a tradition to watch it (just like we watch the Disney ”From All of Us to All of You” at 3PM every single Christmas eve).  
> Just because I love the tradition and I thought that it would be fun to include even though it might not make sense.
> 
> Also I did not have time to edit this since I was done with it pretty late in the evening.   
> So if there’s any mistakes, it’s entirely my fault and I’m sorry :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The week between Christmas and New Year's eve couldn't have pass any slower, at least according to Neal. Even if he had plenty of things to do, everything from using all the things he had gotten for Christmas to activities that the adults had planned, he just kept complaining that the days went by too slow and acted as if new year's was months away and not just days.   
Finally, the 31st arrived but the Burkes' relief over no more complaining was very short lived.   
As soon as Neal woke up he started complaining that the hours were going by too slowly and that he wanted to go to June's right NOW.  
The Burkes had originally planned on celebrating the new year at their own home, like they always did, but June had insisted that they would all come to her house for the celebration.  
It had been the fact that they wouldn't have to cook the food and that they would have an amazing view of all the fireworks from her balcony that had made them give in and accept the woman's offer.   
Finally, it was time to leave the house and Neal, who had been dressed and ready to go for the pat 10 minutes, were impatiently telling them to hurry.  
”We were gonna be there at 3PM! If you don't hurry we will never make it there in time!”  
The kid said while he grabbed Peter's glove and more or less threw them at him.  
Peter just chuckled at him, the child was truly a time pessimist but at least that would make him punctual.

When they arrive they were met by Mozzie who were just returning from a walk with Bugsy.  
It was hard for them to not laugh when the tiny pug spotted Satchmo and decided that he wanted to say hello to his friend, which meant that the dog went from calmly walking to pulling on the leash with all of his might.   
Mozzie, who had not at all been prepared for the sudden strength, was completely caught off guard and stumbled, almost falling and faceplanting the ground.   
The short man grumbled to himself before letting go of the leash, knowing that the dog was too distracted by Satch to even think about running away, and the tiny dog ran to the bigger dog as fast as his little legs could carry him.  
After the dogs had happily greeted each other, they went inside where June were cooking, they had sort of expected that she would have a maid or something cook for her but they had been wrong  
”June, do you need any help?”  
Elizabeth asked, seeing that the woman was running around the kitchen, trying to do everything at the same time.  
”No thank you, Elizabeth. I've got this. You guys are guests so you should just go and sit down, make yourselves at home.”  
She answered before she more or less forced the couple out of the kitchen.   
The Burkes sat down on a couch while their kid sat down by the piano with Mozzie and the two friends started to play around with it.   
A couple of minutes later Jones and Diana arrived and Peter got up to greet them while Elizabeth, who still felt bad that June was doing everything by herself, went to see if she could at least cut some vegetables or set the table.  
”No Christie?”  
Peter asked Diana, knowing that her girlfriend had been scheduled to work during Christmas but had promised to show up today.  
”Major traffic accident involving a bus full of people, they had to pull in every doctor they could.”  
She explained but Peter could sense some tension there, as if there was something more than that, but that wasn't something he was going to bring up today.  
Peter changed the subject to a little more lighter topic and was in the middle of a joke, admittedly a bad one, when Neal suddenly showed up and started to pull on his hand.  
”Come and listen, daddy! You have to come listen!”  
He told him excitedly while pulling his hand as much as possible and Peter smiled at his choice of words.  
Even if he had asked if he could call them mommy and daddy, he hadn't made the switch yet.   
Neal had only called him daddy one time before and that had been when he had been woken up by scratches from his closet.   
The poor kid had been absolutely terrified, he had been a sobbing mess begging him to ”please get rid of the monster daddy!” while he clung onto Elizabeth for dear life.  
In the end Peter had opened the closet and had been met by none other than Satchmo.  
The dog had at some point got into the closet and fallen asleep on a pile of clothes and then someone had closed the closet door without noticing the dog's presence.   
” Okay, okay I'm coming.”  
Peter told him and followed him back to the piano where Neal sat down and started to play the melody of 'Twinkle little star' without any mistakes.   
Peter and his coworkers applauded when the boy finished and Neal smiled proudly.  
”Kid's a natural.”  
Mozzie remarked before he turned back to the piano and moved to another easy melody that he could teach him.

June had decided to serve a three course meal, starting with a creamy broccoli soup.  
Neal was slightly skeptical about it at first but once they convinced him to try it, he seemed unable to stop eating it and they had to remind him that they would be served more food.  
Their main course was not one, not two but three different kind of pies since June hadn't been sure what they would like.  
The first one was a taco pie decorated with nacho chips on top, the second one was a pie with mushroom and onions and the last one was a cheese and broccoli pie.  
They tried a piece of every pie and they were all perfect.   
”So who's the better chef, me or Elizabeth?”  
June asked Neal and even if she was joking it reminded Peter of how his mother and grandmother had always competed about who was the best chef and made the kids the judges.  
Neal looked between June and Elizabeth who was glaring at each other, pretending that this was a serious competition.  
”I think you're both great.”  
The boy answered, smart enough to not pick a side even if it wasn't for real.  
The women stopped glaring at each other and instead smiled, both seeming satisfied with his answer.  
”Good answer.”  
June said before she, with the help of Peter and Jones, started to clear the table.  
The last course was of course the dessert and the course that Neal had been looking forward to the most.  
For dessert they got a homemade chocolate mousse with whipped cream on top.  
Neal was given the glass with the most in, something that caused him to look like he had just won the lottery through the entire meal.

After dinner the adults had some coffee while Neal had left the table and was now placed on the floor with a pencil and a paper, trying to draw the adults.  
Once and again he would yell out things like: ”Peter sit still!” and the person who had been yelled at had to sit still until Neal said they could move again.  
When Neal was done he proudly showed it to them and even if it was still a kid's drawing, it was pretty amazing.   
The amount of detail he had added and how he had managed to capture things like their facial expressions were truly amazing for a 6-year-old.  
June, who had been gifted the drawing, had immediately found an appropriate frame and framed it, throwing the photo in the frame aside since it wasn't as important.  
Then they all sat down in front of the TV and watched ”Dinner for One”.  
Neal was amused by the sketch, giggling almost nonstop, and the funniest part, according to him, was when the butler tripped over the tiger's head.   
Once it was over, they decided to play some games, starting with teaching Neal some simple card games.   
He caught on pretty quickly and they weren't sure if it was beginner's luck or cheating but the kid won almost every single round they played.  
Then they moved on to playing some of the child appropriate board games that Elizabeth and Peter had brought with them before they moved on to playing Trivial Pursuit where Neal, just like last time, helped Peter roll the dice and answer some of the easier questions.

They had originally planned on putting Neal down for a nap by his usual bedtime and then wake him up before midnight but the stubborn child had managed to convince them to let him stay up, something that he kept bragging about the entire time.  
No matter how much he bragged though and no matter how much he fought it, he was still out like a light by 10PM.  
One second he was sitting on the floor, lazily playing with the dogs, and then the next he was sprawled out on the floor, his head rested on a very confused looking Satchmo.  
”Damn.”  
Jones said before reaching into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, pulling out a 10 dollar bill that he handed to a smug looking Mozzie.  
June and Diana both sighed before getting up from the table, going to fetch their wallets as well.  
”Did you guys bet on how long he would make it?”  
Peter asked, partly surprised that they were betting on his son and partly offended that no one had told him about it.  
”Can you believ-”  
He turned to ask his wife but interrupted himself as he noticed that she had left the table as well.  
”Really? You were in on it as well?”  
The agent asked her as she returned with a 10-dollar bill in her hand.

”I thought he would last at least 20 more minutes.”  
She just answered and Peter shook his head before he got up from his chair.  
”Unbelievable.”  
He muttered, now really offended that he had been the only one left out, as he lifted up the sleeping child and freeing the dog, who hadn't dared to move a muscle.  
He carried Neal up the stairs and put him in a bed in one of the guest rooms, not only was it more comfortable but it was also no chance of him getting disturbed by the adults now.  
Peter tucked him in before leaving the room and going downstairs to the rest of the adults who had refilled the glasses of wine.  
He was glad that they had all gotten to the agreement that they could all drink if they wanted to but no one was going to drink too much.   
Considering James' alcoholism, they had no idea how Neal was going to react if one of them had too much and he noticed it. 

They spent their time playing more games, just talking to each other and in general just having a good time with many laughs.   
Elizabeth left the table by 11.50PM and went up the stairs to wake Neal up, wanting to give him a couple of minutes to fully wake up before midnight, while the rest of them started to prepare for midnight.  
Jones was sent to fetch the champagne, Diana got some soda for Neal while June and Peter carried the glasses up to the balcony where they would start the new year.  
There were already several fireworks being set off, and they had been both seeing and hearing them for the past couple of hours.   
Soon Elizabeth came out on the balcony with a tired Neal by her side.   
He trudged over to Peter and lifted his arms up, indicating that he wanted to be picked up.  
The agent easily picked him up and held him tightly as Neal leaned his head against his shoulder while he looked at the fireworks.  
Mozzie was in charge of keeping track of the exact time and soon started to count down from 15, the other ones joining in once he reached 10.  
Neal had gotten a little more alert and was now happily counting down with them until they reached zero and they all yelled out ”Happy new year!” as the sky exploded with colour and the loud bangs echoed through the city.  
They clinked their glasses together before drinking their champagne and soda.   
Neal then spent a minute or two looking at the fireworks with awe before asking Peter to put him down. 

Peter only looked at the fireworks for a minute before he looked down again but when he did the kid was gone.  
He looked around him but there were only adults on the balcony.   
He was positive that Neal had just gone inside to use the bathroom or something but Peter still excused himself and went inside to locate his boy.  
With everything that had happened, with the running away and the kidnapping, you couldn't exactly blame Peter and Elizabeth for being slightly overprotective of Neal.  
He searched the entire house, looking in every room and calling out for his name but received no answer.  
It was like he had vanished into thin air.  
Peter was just about to return to the others and sound the alarm when he heard a whimper coming from under the bed.  
He crouched down and saw Neal lying there, tears rolling down his cheeks as he hugged the two shaking, whimpering dogs.  
” They’re really scared, Peter.”  
Neal said with a sniffle before tightening his grip around the dogs.  
”New Year's is not fun for them. It's not fun at all.”  
He couldn't help but feel proud of the kid who felt so much empathy for the dogs and chose to comfort them instead of looking at the fireworks that he had spent the entire week waiting for.  
”Do you want to stay with them until it's over?”  
Peter asked and Neal nodded.  
”Can you stay too?”  
Even if Peter loved to look at the fireworks and even if he wanted to celebrate with the other, he too empathized with the animals and knew that their celebrations were torture for them.  
”Yeah I'll stay.”  
He answered and lied down on the floor, reaching his arm under the bed so that he could pet the dogs.

It was over 1 AM when the Burkes finally arrived home and they were all exhausted.  
Neal had fallen asleep again in the car and Peter had to carry him yet again while Elizabeth was fighting to hold on to Satchmo's leash, the dog panicking every time a late firework was heard.  
They finally made it inside where Elizabeth quickly made sure that Satch had food and water and that both of the doors were locked and all of the lights were off before they walked up the stairs to tuck Neal in before they went to their own room.   
Peter gently put Neal in the bed and Elizabeth pulled the cover over him before she leaned against Peter, resting her tired head against his shoulder.  
”It was a good year.”  
Elizabeth said with a yawn and Peter smiled.  
It was definitely a good year because they had been blessed with this wonderful boy.  
”And I think this year will be even better.”  
Peter answered before they both kissed Neal's forehead and left the room to go to bed.  
The year had been good but it had also been tough, with Neal living on the street, with being kidnapped and dealing with bullies.   
This year they were a family and with all the bad guys out of their lives they were more than ready to have a normal year and become closer as a family.  
Who knows what this year have to offer?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did feel the need to include the part about the dogs because we had a wonderful little family dog, a corgi, from 2003 to the very start of 2015.   
> (Not so fun fact: My dog actually got sick on new year's eve 2014 and passed away on the 1st of January 2015)  
> Our dog was terrified of fireworks and he had epilepsy which was a major worry so as a child I used to watch the fireworks for a minute before spending the rest of the time under a bed with my dog just like Neal.  
> I do love watching fireworks but I also do suffer with the animals so I just felt the need to include their perspective of New Year's.
> 
> Also I have to say that I'm going through a lot right now, I got sick and missed Christmas eve (my fave day of the year) which really triggered my depression, I'm pretty sure I've lost my best friend of 15 years and I have some major writing assignments to do for my uni course.  
> (Sorry for oversharing :P)  
> Anyways because all of this I just need to take a short break from writing but don't worry I'm only planning on taking January off and are planning on getting this and my other stories updated in February.  
> So thank you for understanding why there won't be a new update for a while and I wish you all a very wonderful 2019.


	3. Sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got an update together yay!  
> I took a break from writing in January and was planning on updating my fics in February but then my mental health got even worse and I’ve been struggling with it ever since.  
> I appreciate all the kudos/comments I’ve gotten and they’ve been my motivation to get this together.  
> It might not be the best update but at least it’s an update :)
> 
> I had a couple of ideas but I finally went with this one because it was the easiest one since I just based it on my own sleepovers as a kid.
> 
> Also I wanted to ask if I should write oneshots just about the time after the end of my story or if I should write oneshots that takes place in the future when Neal is older?  
> Lemme know what u think.

SLEEPOVER

It was Friday morning and the first recess of the day when Sara asked him the question.  
“Do you wanna have a sleepover at my house tonight? My mommy said you could.”  
The girl wore a huge, excited smile on her face and she didn’t even give Neal a chance to think it over before she continued.  
“It will be really fun! We can play ALL evening and we can tell scary stories and in the morning you can try my daddy’s pancakes. They are really yummy!”  
The more his friend talked, the more she sold him on the idea and by the time she mentioned her dad’s pancakes she had managed to get him just as excited as she was.  
He had never had a sleepover before and it did sound very fun to spend the night at Sara’s house.  
Neal loved being at Sara’s house since they always had fun together and her parents were always super nice.  
“I’m gonna ask ‘Lizbeth.”  
He answered both hoping and believing that she would say yes.  
They spent the rest of the recess hyping each other up, talking about all of the fun things that they were going to do together and at at the next recess they sat down and wrote a schedule of the evening, making sure to fit in every single activity that they wanted to do.  
The day seemed to pass by incredibly slow and both of the kids found it extremely difficult to contain their excitement, something that Mrs. Fisher noticed.  
The teacher had to tell them several times to sit still, stop whispering to each other and pay attention to her.  
After what felt like an eternity the last lesson of the day ended and the friends rushed out of the building and over to the side of the building where parents pick up their children.  
Luckily Elizabeth was already there, standing by her car, and Neal wasted no time rushing over and ask her, but he was so excited that his words came out way faster than Elizabeth could process them.  
“Okay slow down, I couldn’t a word you said.”  
She told him with an amused smile and Neal took a deep breath.  
“Can I sleep at Sara’s house tonight? Please please please pleaaaaaaaaaseee?”  
He asked, Sara joining in on the begging and Elizabeth chuckled.  
They looked exactly like Simba and Nala when they asked their mothers for permission to go to the waterhole and it was adorable.  
“Is it okay with your parents, Sara?”  
“Yes Mrs. Burke.”  
“Well then it’s alright with me too.”  
She answered and the children cheered so loudly that Elizabeth had to protect her ears.  
Sara’s mother chose that moment to show up and the women shared an amused smile over the kids who were hugging each other as if their lives depended on it, before they discussed the details.  
Neal gave Sara one last, tight hug before he got into Elizabeth’s car so that they could go home and pack.

As soon as Elizabeth unlocked the front door, Neal opened it and rushed inside and up the stairs, not even bothering to greet Satchmo, something that seemed to deeply offend the dog.  
Neal grabbed the things he thought he would need while Elizabeth found a bigger backpack that he could pack in.  
The boy packed his book about dinosaurs, a notebook and both his Satchmo stuffed toy and Raphael the t-Rex plushie, unable to choose between them.  
That was all that he thought that he would need but luckily Elizabeth made sure that the actual essential items like his pajamas and his toothbrush made it into the backpack.  
After they had finished packing and Elizabeth had triple checked the bag to make sure that he had everything he needed, they went downstairs again.  
The adults had decided that they would just go home and pack before going directly to Sara’s house in order to give the kids as much time together as possible.  
Just as they made it downstairs, Peter walked through the door.  
He had left work a little earlier today since he had been working overtime every other day of the week.  
The agent looked down at Neal and his backpack before raising his eyebrows.  
“What’s this?”  
He asked.  
“Are you leaving for college already?”  
He continued, causing Neal to giggle.  
“No silly, I’m gonna have a sleepover with Sara?”  
“Oh really?”  
Peter asked before he closed the distance between him and his wife.  
“So, date night for us then?”  
He asked and kissed her, causing Neal to grimace and make gagging noises, still being disgusted by them kissing in front of him.  
“Can we please go now?”  
He asked impatiently and Elizabeth nodded.  
Neal said goodbye to Peter and Satchmo, hugging them both tightly before they left the house.  
On the way to Sara’s house Neal talked non stop, telling Elizabeth every single thing that they were going to do and Elizabeth couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as they finally pulled up in the driveway.  
She loved her kid to the moon and back but he sure had the ability to talk people’s ears off.  
“Have fun sweetie and don’t hesitate to call us.”  
She told him and hugged him tightly before she let him run off with Sara.  
Elizabeth talked with Sara’s parents for a couple of minutes and they assured her that everything would be fine.  
The Burkes had made the decision to tell Sara’s parents, but not Sara, about Neal’s past so they could be prepared for nightmares or any other issues.   
She eventually had to leave and she couldn’t help but feel a sting of separation anxiety as she walked back to her car.

The two friends started out by swinging on the swing set Sara had in her backyard, competing in who could swing the highest.  
Then they went and spent some time with Sara’s cat Tellus.  
He was a beautiful white, fluffy cat with bright, green eyes and he was really friendly but Neal still thought that Satchmo was a little better than the cat, something that started a small argument between the two.  
For a second Neal thought that their argument about which pet was better would ruin their entire evening but luckily Sara’s mother stepped in and diffused the situation by offering them her homemade lemonade.  
While drinking the lemonade they decided that Satchmo and Tellus was equally good.  
They soon discovered that the schedule they had created wasn’t working out for them at all so it eventually ended up in the trash.  
Sara got the brilliant idea to build a fort out of pillows and blankets in Sara’s room and they spent a long time making sure that the fort was absolutely perfect.   
Sara’s parents decided to order some pizza and since Neal and Sara had similar taste when it came to pizza toppings, they got their own pizza to share and with the promise to be careful they were even allowed to eat in their fort.  
“When we grow up we can build a house and live in it together.”  
Sara said while she looked around their fort, admiring their good work.  
“And we can sit in our house and eat all the pizza we want!”  
Neal said and the friends shook hands, deciding that it was a deal.  
After eating they left their precious fort to watch a movie, something that led to yet another small fight between them.  
Neal wanted to watch his favourite, The Lion King, and Sara wanted to watch her favourite, Mulan, but when Sara’s father threatened with no movie at all they compromised and decided to watch Lilo and Stitch, a movie that they both loved.  
When the movie ended they spent some time looking through Neal’s dinosaur book before it was time for the activity that Sara had been looking forward to the most, telling scary stories.

Sara went all out, she turned off all of the lights in her bedroom and only brought a flashlight into the fort.  
Neal didn’t really know any scary stories, except for the scary things that had happened to him, and since he couldn’t make up any on the spot so Sara ended up doing all of the talking.  
Neal was prepared for silly stories that people told around campfires in the movies but instead Sara told him stories that she claimed was one hundred percent real and had happened to people she knew.  
He didn’t know if the stories were real or not but the fact that there was a chance that it could be true scared him.  
“My uncle live in a small town and he was visiting his friend one evening. It was close to midnight when he started to walk home from his friend.  
There were no people or cars anywhere.  
When my uncle walked past a daycare he could hear children laughing from the playground and of course he gets worried because it’s night and children shouldn’t be out.  
He goes to the gate and walks into the playground but once there he doesn’t see any children anywhere.  
He calls out but receives no answer. Then he hears children laughing again, coming from the swing set but when he looked over he saw that there was no one on the swings but the swings were swinging on their own, swinging higher and higher and higher.”  
A chill went through Neal’s body at the thought of ghost children playing at playgrounds at night and he squeezed Raphael tighter while trying not to show Sara that the story scared him.  
Despite his efforts she still seemed to notice his fear because she smiled proudly before she moved on to another story.  
“There’s this guy who used to work with my daddy. One day he stopped coming to work and no one saw him for months, not even his family. Then one night at exactly midnight, daddy hear someone knocking on the door. He opens it and it is the missing guy.  
My dad talked to him but he didn’t say anything, he just stared at my dad for several minutes before he left.   
Then the next night it happened again and the night after that and the night after that.  
He still knocks at our door every night at exactly midnight.”  
Neal hugged Raphael even tighter while Sara’s smile grew ever wider.  
The second story was a little scarier because he wasn’t sure if he believed in ghosts but in the second story it was a regular human and he knew for sure that people could be very scary.  
Sara went on to tell stories about how she herself had found a haunted cabin on a beach and how her mom had seen a ghost when she was a child.  
Finally Sara’s mother came into the room and Neal had never, ever been more glad over being interrupted and being told to go to bed.  
Sara’s parents told the good night, giving them both a kiss on the forehead before they left the room.  
He feared that Sara would continue her stories but luckily the girl had gotten really tired and fell asleep only minutes after her parents left the room.  
Neal closed his eyes and relaxed, hugging both of his plushies tight while drifting off to sleep.  
The mattress wasn’t as comfortable as his bed at home but he didn’t mind, as a former street kid he was used to sleeping in much, much worse places.  
His presence at the Burke household hadn’t managed to spoil him yet, and not even the foreign sounds or the fact that Sara’s room was warmer than his own was something that prevented him from falling asleep.  
Neal wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep when he felt himself regain consciousness.  
For a second he was confused as to why he had suddenly woken up, if he didn’t have nightmares he usually slept through the night, but then he heard it, a low sound sounding like knocking.  
Sara’s story was the first thing that came to mind and he completely froze.  
All he could picture was a man standing outside and knocking on the door.  
Of course, his brain decided to make matters worse by picturing that it was one of the scariest men he knew, Keller or James, standing outside the house, knocking on the door wanting to get in and snatch him.  
Tears built up in his eyes as he thought about the safety of his own home, the safety of Peter who was a brave FBI agent with a gun and Satchmo who could scare any intruders away.  
He didn’t want to be here anymore, he no longer felt safe here and no matter how hard he tried to think about something else, his mind wouldn’t stop picturing someone coming for him.  
The knocking had ceased but he still didn’t dare to move a muscle.  
He didn’t know how long he waited before he finally dared to speak.  
“S-Sara?”  
Neal asked with a shaky voice but received no answer from his friend.   
“Sara?”  
He tried again, a little louder this time but he was yet again met by silence.  
He looked up at her but his friend seemed to be fast asleep.  
Neal closed his eyes again and tried to think about the pancakes he would eat in the morning.  
Minutes went by, or maybe it was just seconds, and then he heard a sound again.  
He wasn’t even sure if it was knocking he heard but it didn’t matter, he wanted to go home where he felt safe and no pancakes in the world could stop him now.  
Carefully, as to not disturb his sleeping friend, he got up from the mattress and opened the door.  
On shaky legs he walked through the house towards Sara’s parents’ bedroom.  
Suddenly a door opened and he jumped, biting his lip to prevent himself from screaming.  
“Neal?”  
A soft voice said and through tear filled eyes Neal saw Sara’s mother standing there, illuminated by the light from the bathroom.  
“Are you okay, honey?”  
She asked as she noticed how the boy was shaking and had tears in his eyes.  
“I wanna go home.”  
“Did you have a nightmare?”  
“I just wanna go home.”  
Neal repeated, not feeling like explaining himself and even if Sara’s mother looked concerned she didn’t push him again.  
She told him to wait there before she walked to her bedroom, soon returning with her cellphone in her hand.  
“Do you want to talk or should I?”  
She asked as she dialed and Neal took the phone from her, feeling the need to hear Peter or Elizabeth’s voice, and put it to his ear.  
Neal was planning on keeping it together and calmly say that he wanted to go home but as soon as he heard Peter’s voice, the tears he had been trying so hard to contain started to roll down his cheeks.  
“Burke.”  
Peter mumbled, sounding like he was still half asleep which meant that the phone call had woken him up but Neal didn’t have time to feel bad about that.  
“Daddy.”  
Neal said before sniffling and he could hear shuffling on the other end.  
“Neal? What’s wrong, buddy?”  
Peter continued, now sounding wide awake, while Elizabeth’s voice could be heard faintly in the background.  
“I wanna go home.”  
“I’m coming, bud.”  
Peter told him, not even caring why he wanted to go home, his son was upset and that was reason enough for the agent to come and get him.   
He promised Neal that he would be there as soon as possible before he hung up.  
“Do you want me to wake Sara up?”  
Neal shook his head, not wanting her to know what a coward he was, and her mother promised to talk to Sara tomorrow.  
He went back to Sara’s room and quietly packed all of his things in his backpack, except for his plushiest that he hugged tightly.   
Neal didn’t bother changing his clothes because he would just sit in the car and then he would go to bed once he returned to safety.  
Sara’s mother did her best to comfort him but nothing she did helped him calm down, he just wanted his parents right now.  
It felt like forever before they heard a car pull up in the driveway.  
As soon as Sara’s mother unlocked the door and opened it, Neal more or less threw himself at Peter.  
The agent easily picked up the child and held him tight as he thanked Sara’s mother.  
Sara’s mother rubbed Neal’s back and wished him a goodnight before they left the house.

Neal was quiet the entire ride home and Peter glanced back several times to see if had fallen asleep but he hadn’t.  
They finally got home where Elizabeth was waiting for them, too worried about her little boy to sleep.  
“Are you okay, sweetie?”  
She asked as soon as they walked through the door and Neal just nodded.  
“Do you want some hot chocolate?”  
“Yes please.”  
Neal mumbled before Peter carried him to the living room and placed him on the couch, enveloping him with a blanket.  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
Peter asked as he sat down next to him but Neal just shook his head.  
Now that he was home, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed that he had woken them up and forced Peter to come and get him in the middle of the night.  
How would Sara react tomorrow?  
Would she be mad at him for ruining their sleepover?  
He didn’t even notice that the tears had begun again until Peter grabbed him and pulled him onto his lap.  
“I’m sorry.”  
Neal said before throwing his arms around Peter.  
“You have nothing to be sorry for, kid.”  
The agent promised while hugging the boy tightly.  
By the time Elizabeth returned with three cups of hot chocolate, he had managed to calm down a little.  
They sat and drank their hot chocolate in silence for a while before Neal felt ready to tell them why he wanted to go home.  
“Sara told me scary stories and I was scared by them.”  
He said, hanging his head in shame before mumbling an apology, still feeling like had inconvenienced them,  
“You don’t have to apologize.”  
Peter said but when Neal didn’t answer he decided to tell the boy about his first sleepover.  
“I was about your age when I had my first sleepover and my dad had to come and pick me up in the middle of the night too.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, I was really scared by the unfamiliar noises in the house and I thought that the noises was made by ghosts.”  
Neal felt comforted by that, if brave FBI agent Peter had been scared at his first sleepover too then maybe he wasn’t a coward after all.  
“At my first sleepover I ended up sleeping in my friend’s parents’ bed because I thought there was a monster under my friend’s bed.”  
Elizabeth said and Neal managed to smile, apparently it was normal to get scared and he no longer felt that being scared made him weak.  
There was still a big question eating at him though.  
“Is Sara gonna be mad at me?”  
“If Sara had been sleeping here and she wanted to go home, would you have been mad?”  
Elizabeth asked and Neal quickly shook his head, he would never want Sara to be forced stay if she wasn’t comfortable.  
“Sara’s not going to be mad at you. It’s okay to be scared and it’s okay to want to go home when you don’t feel comfortable.”  
Elizabeth promised and stroked some hair away from his forehead.  
After finishing their hot chocolate Elizabeth announced that it was time for bed and the family headed upstairs.  
The adults didn’t protest when Neal followed them to their bedroom, in fact they seemed to have expected it.  
Snuggled up between Peter and Elizabeth and with Satchmo curled up on the floor next to the bed, Neal finally felt safe and when the thought of the scary man knocking on the door crossed his mind, he no longer felt scared since he knew he would be protected.  
He fell asleep within minutes and slept soundly through the night.

The next morning Elizabeth made some pancakes, knowing how excited he had been to eat pancakes at Sara’s house.  
Neal happily ate as many pancakes as possible, thinking that Mr. Ellis’ pancakes couldn’t possibly be better than Elizabeth’s pancakes.  
After breakfast, the phone rang and Neal got to talk to Sara.  
The Burkes had been right when they said that Sara wouldn’t be mad, the girl was in fact almost in tears because she felt so much guilt.  
She had woken up last night and had been knocking on her wall but since Neal had froze, she hadn’t seen any reaction and thought that he was asleep so she stopped and went back to sleep.  
Neal managed to calm her down and quickly accepted her apology.  
They also decided to try to have another sleepover again soon.  
But the next time there would be no scary stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not that good at coming up with scary stories so I simply chose two stories that scared me as a child.  
> The first one is a story that my dad swore happened to him and the second one was my best friend who told me several times, I decided to be awake until midnight one night and just like Sara my friend knocked on the wall and scared me. I still need to get revenge on her for that one.
> 
> Also someone told me a while back that if I wrote my cat Tellus into the story then he might stop hindering me from writing.  
> Update: it didn’t work he’s still biting my pens and lying on my computer but now he’s smug too.


	4. Meeting the grandparents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to go with Peter’s parents for a start, simply because they’re not in the show which made it easier for me to create my own images of them.
> 
> I have a busy couple of days ahead of me so I really wanted to get this chapter out before that, therefore I apologize if it seems rushed and also for any potential mistakes.

MEETING THE GRANDPARENTS 

Neal quickly noticed that something was different this morning.   
The adults would normally happily talk about their day or something they read in the newspaper but today they were both quiet.   
They kept looking at each other, having one of their silent conversations that Neal could never understand, and the once in a while glancing over at him.   
He started to get nervous and he mentally went through everything that he’d done the past couple of days, trying to figure out if he had done something wrong.   
Finally Peter decided to break the uncomfortable silence by clearing his throat and Neal froze.   
He slowly looked up at the agent and relaxed as he realized that Peter didn’t look disappointed, which he usually did if Neal had done something wrong.   
Peter seemed to hesitate a little, glancing back at his wife who nodded encouragingly at him, before he finally decided to spit it out.  
“My parents are coming to town this weekend. They’re really excited to meet you.”  
Neal hadn’t even thought about the fact that Peter and Elizabeth had parents and the adults hadn’t even mentioned them before.   
When he didn’t answer Peter seemed to get even more nervous.  
"They're your grandparents...you know what grandparents are right?"  
Elizabeth chuckled, amused over his nervousness, while Neal nodded.   
He knew what grandparents were even if he didn't have too much of an experience with them.  
He knew that his mother's parents had passed away long before he was even born, he could remember his mommy speaking very fondly of them and telling him stories about their lives.   
Neal didn't know anything about James' father but he did have vague memories of James' mother from when he was really young.   
He couldn't remember much about her except that she'd had dark hair with grey stripes in it, that she had a pale face that never wore a smile and that she was angry all the time.   
He didn't know who she had been angry at, if it had been him, James or if she had simply been mad at the world, but he did remember being terrified of her.  
Every time she came to their apartment, he had hid somewhere while James and his mother had been yelling at each other.   
She had visited them once in a while for the first years of his life but then suddenly, just a short while before his dad had left, she had just stopped showing up and Neal had no idea if she had passed away or if she just didn't want to see them any longer.  
He really hoped that Peter's parents wouldn't be angry like her.   
"Are you okay with meeting them, Neal?"  
Peter asked and when Neal eventually nodded, he seemed to finally relax. 

Once he arrived at school, he immediately told Sara about the upcoming visit with his new grandparents.  
"What are your grandparents like?"  
"Daddy's parents are the best! They always give me candy or toys and they always wanna play with me and my grandpa is really funny!"  
"What about your mommy's parents?"  
Sara's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown as she proceeded to tell him about her other grandparents.  
Her mother's parents were no fun at all, they never had any gifts not even for birthdays or Christmas, and they seemed to always be in a bad mood, always scolding Sara for being too loud or too energetic.   
Neal really hoped that Peter's parents would be like Sara's father's parents and not like her mother's because they sounded no fun at all.   
Sara convinced him that Peter's parents were probably the fun kind and they spent the rest of the day discussing what they would be like.  
Neal stayed realistic and imagined that they would be kind and fun just like Peter while Sara imagined that his grandfather was a secret spy and his grandmother was a mad scientist that had created Peter in a lab.  
Over the next few days his excitement just grew and grew and he just couldn't wait for Saturday to arrive but then eventually Friday evening came along and just like a rollercoaster, his excitement dropped.  
He was in his bed, the adults had just said good night and left, when it happened.  
It had been one thing to wait for the visit while imagining what they were like but tomorrow he would actually have to meet them and there were a big chance that they were nothing at all like his mental picture of them.  
He had just assumed that they would be just as fun and kind as Peter because they were his parents but Sara's mom was the complete opposite of her parents.   
What if Peter's parents would be like them?   
Boring and always complaining about Neal being too much.  
Or worse what if they would be angry all the time and scare him just like James' mother?  
What if they would be really nice people but they wouldn't like him?  
His mental pictures of them were distorted and they turned into mean, angry people who didn't like him at all.  
It felt like an eternity passed before his exhausted body finally won over his anxious mind.

The morning came way too soon and Neal did not want to even get up, he wanted to just stay in bed for the rest of the day but of course Peter wouldn't let him.  
After refusing to get up, Peter had lifted him out of bed.  
"Now we have to get you dressed."  
He said but Neal crossed his arms, stomped his foot and protested loudly.  
If he was acting up then maybe they would cancel the visit just like that one time that he acted up and Elizabeth had threatened to cancel the play-date with Sara if he didn't behave.  
Peter tried his best to get Neal dressed but the boy made it impossible for him.   
The agent was getting really frustrated which made Neal feel bad, he had notice that the visit had already been stressing Peter out.  
"Damn it, Neal!"  
Peter swore and threw the shirt on the floor in frustration as Neal yet again refused to get out of his pyjamas.  
Even if he had long since stopped flinching every time Peter was irritated or got too close, knowing that the man would never hurt him, he still felt his heart speed up every time there was any anger directed towards him, especially when it was adults.   
The agent closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself down.  
"Why are you being so difficult this morning? I thought you were excited to meet my parents?"  
He asked in a calm tone.  
Neal bit his lip while looking down on his socks to avoid eye contact.  
"I'm scared."  
He admitted and Peter's expression softened.  
"What are you scared of, buddy?"  
"I'm scared that they're going to be really boring or mean. James mommy was always angry and mean."  
Peter put a finger under his chin and gently forced his head up so that their eyes would meet.  
"My parents are good people, I promise you that. If they hadn't been I wouldn't have let them see you even if they are family."  
Neal felt a little calmed by that but is other fear still remained.  
"What if they don't like me?"  
He asked and Peter smiled.  
"Neal, I've told them all about you and they have wanted to meet you in person for a really long time now. They already love you, kid."

Even if Peter's words had helped him calm down and had helped him to both get dressed and go downstairs to eat breakfast, the fear still returned as soon as he was alone.   
Elizabeth had gone upstairs to fix the new bedroom, it had previously been a small room used for storage but after Neal took over their old guest room it had been turned into a new guest room.  
Peter had gone upstairs to change his shirt after he had accidentally spilled coffee all over himself, something that had caused both Neal and Elizabeth to giggle.  
He looked over at the backdoor, maybe if he was real quiet then he could sneak out and hide in the backyard and hide until Peter's parents had left or until he felt ready to meet them.  
He carefully crossed the room, mindful of every floorboard, and he was just reaching out for the door handle when he heard footsteps behind him.   
"Not so fast, kiddo."  
Peter said and Neal had to give up his plan.  
"It's going to be okay."  
Peter promised him again but the fear still remained.

The doorbell rung and Neal immediately got up from the couch but not to answer it, instead he ran over to Elizabeth who was in the kitchen and hid behind her, something that caused her to laugh.   
Peter went to open the door while Satchmo was already by the door, waiting and barking impatiently.  
Neal could hear them talking, at least they didn't sound angry.   
He could hear Peter asking them to sit down on the couch before he came into the kitchen.   
With a little coaxing the agent managed to get Neal to leave Elizabeth and follow him out to the living room.   
"You can stay close to me all the time."  
Peter said as he grabbed his hand and led him out in the living room.  
On the couch were Peter's parents and their faces lit up when they saw him.  
Peter's mother was petite, she was probably a lot shorter than Elizabeth, and she had long brown hair that had been put in a tight bun.   
Her face was round and her chin a little pointy but he could see the similarities with Peter, they had the same eyes.   
Her thin lips had been coated with a dark lipstick and unlike James' mother she looked like she always smiled.  
His father was even more similar to Peter except his eyes were smaller, his face was rounder and he had a stubble, where the hair had started to grey.  
Peter's mother suddenly looked like she was going to cry and Neal got worried that something was wrong.  
Peter sat down on one of the armchairs and Neal got up in his lap, his eyes going between the people on the couch and his hands.   
"He's a little shy."  
Peter said and they both nodded.   
His mother's eyes seemed to be glued on Neal and he started to feel uncomfortable.  
"You're even cuter in real life than in the pictures."  
She commented and Neal could feel his cheeks flush.   
Elizabeth finally came into the room and Peter's mother stopped staring at him.   
Elizabeth put down a tray with a plate of cookies, four cookies and a glass of juice on it.  
While they ate the cookies, the adults were talking about their lives.  
Peter and Elizabeth talked about their jobs while Peter's parents updated them on how things were going at home, gossiping about some neighbour and talked about how their dog had recently been at the vet after a fight with a cat.   
Neal thought they had completely forgotten about him until Peter's mother suddenly let out an excited noise and looked at him.  
"I have a surprise for you, sweetie."  
She said and reached for her purse, she dug around in it for a couple of seconds before she found what she was looking for.   
An envelope was pulled out and she held it up for him to see.  
It was a regular white envelope and she had written his name on it with big, blue letters.  
Neal looked back at Peter who smiled and lifted him off his lap before giving him a gentle push.  
"Go on."  
He prompted and Neal slowly walked the steps between the armchair and the couch and took the envelope from her.  
"Open it."  
He got the envelope open and pulled out five tickets.   
Neal had no trouble reading the words on the tickets, he would recognize the title "The lion king" anywhere.  
"I heard that The lion king is your favourite movie so I thought we would go to the cinema and watch the remake."  
Neal looked at the tickets before looking at Peter and Elizabeth in disbelief.  
For weeks he had asked them to go see the movie but they had always said no.  
"What do you say?"  
Elizabeth prompted and Neal looked back at Peter's mother.  
"Thank you."  
He said and before he knew what he was doing he had thrown his arms around her in a hug.  
"Thank you!"  
He repeated.

It wasn't until they were in the line for popcorn that Neal learned that Peter's mother was a huge fan of The lion king too.  
"Who's your favourite?"  
"Simba."  
"Mine too!"  
Both of them had watched the movie so many times that hey had memorized it and they ended up in a long discussion about what the best parts of the movie were while the rest of them stood by their side with amused smiles.  
Once inside the movie theatre, Neal insisted that he would sit next to Peter's mother so that they could whisper to each other during the movie.   
He ended up between Elizabeth and Peter's mother while Peter and his father sat on the other side of his grandmother.  
The movie ended up being great, even if it couldn't beat the original, with some new scenes and new jokes.   
When they were walking out of the cinema, they immediately started a discussion again, comparing the original and the new movie.

After watching the movie, they went to a diner where they had some food and then they went back home where both Neal and Peter's mother insisted that they would watch the original Lion King.  
The others protested but they won in the end and they ended up watching the movie.   
As it was time for bed, Neal asked his new grandmother if she could read him his Lion King book and Peter groaned.  
"Aren't you tired of The lion king by now?"  
He asked but both of them gave him an "are you kidding" look before they went upstairs.  
Peter's dad followed them and sat down with his wife by Neal's bed.  
He was apparently really good at doing voices, so while his grandmother narrated the story, her husband did all of the dialogue.  
Neal laughed at his spot-on impression of Pumbaa and once they were done, he insisted that they would read it again but they unfortunately thought that once was enough.  
Once they had left, Peter and Elizabeth came into the room and said good night before they left him alone.  
Yet again he had a hard time falling asleep but this time it was because he was filled to the brink with happiness and excitement for tomorrow.

Despite his troubles falling asleep, he woke up early and got up, ready to start the day but was disappointed when he realized that he was the only one awake.  
He thought about what to do and came up with the idea to make his new grandparents breakfast.  
Neal thought about doing it on his own but since he didn't know how to make coffee he decided to wake someone up.  
After some debating he decided to wake Elizabeth since Peter could be a little grumpy in the mornings.  
He sneaked into the room, shushing the dog who had gotten up to greet him, and then he walked over to Elizabeth and carefully shook her awake.  
She groaned and looked over at the alarm clock.  
"Neal it's still early, go back to bed."  
"I wanna make breakfast for grandma and grandpa."  
He said and Elizabeth looked like she was thinking about it.  
"Please mommy."  
Neal said, hoping that him calling her mommy would make her say yes and he was right.  
She quietly got out of bed and together they walked downstairs to make some breakfast.  
Neal decided that they would make some pancakes and with Elizabeth's instructions he made the batter all on his own, something he was incredibly proud over.  
By the time they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, the house was filled with a lovely smell of pancakes and coffee.  
Neal ran over to the stairs where Peter's parents were, both of them still looking tired.  
He quickly grabbed each of their hands and even if the elderly couple looked surprised they didn't protest.  
Neal led them to the kitchen table where Elizabeth had just put down the plate of pancakes.  
"We made you breakfast! I made the pancakes all on my own!"  
He said and the couple smiled at him.  
"Thank you, sweetie."  
Peter's mother said before she let go of his hand to get some coffee to wake her up.  
"You're really talented. Maybe you should become a chef someday."  
Peter's dad praised and Neal's smile grew.   
"Why don't you go and wake up your dad?"  
Neal nodded before letting go of his hand and running upstairs, pretending not to hear Elizabeth telling him to not run.  
Peter was still asleep when Neal got into the room and he threw himself on the bed and shook the man, a little more rough than he had with Elizabeth.  
Peter groaned but opened his eyes.   
"Pancakes?"  
Was the first thing he asked as the smell reached him.  
"I made them all on my own!"  
He said before gently pushing Peter.  
"Get up and eat so that I can play with grandma and grandpa!"  
Peter smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair.  
"I told you everything would be fine, didn't I?"  
Neal nodded, feeling stupid for even being scared in the first place.   
Peter yawned and closed his eyes again, something that caused Neal to groan.  
The longer Peter took, the longer it would take for them to finish breakfast and the longer it would take before he could play with his grandparents.  
They were going home this afternoon so he had very limited time with them.  
"Get up, old man!"  
Neal ordered and Peter opened his eyes and gave him an offended look.  
"I'm not old."  
He answered and when Neal insisted that he was, he sat up so that he could tickle Neal until the he gave up and admitted that Peter wasn't old.  
After the tickling had stopped, the two of them walked downstairs, ready for another fun day with Neal's new grandparents.


End file.
